This invention relates to apparatus for securing plastic film in position about a product, such as a roll paper product. The invention has been found to be particularly useful when employed at a station located upstream from a heat tunnel whereat the film is shrunk to conform to the configuration of the product.
Prior art arrangements exist for securing shrink wrap film in place about products prior to entry of the product into a shrink wrap tunnel. One such expedient is the hot air seam welder which forms a seam weld between overlapping portions of the plastic shrink wrap film prior to shrinking thereof. Systems of this type, however, have been found not to work well in an operational environment wherein it is desired to form intermittent welds. Heated rollers have also been employed to form discrete welds in plastic film wrapped about a package prior to the shrink wrap step but this approach too has its drawbacks. In particular, rollers having heated elements disposed about the periphery thereof require a complicated structure, utilizing such components as sliprings and brushes which wear and lose accuracy in time.